Cost of Gliding...(then !)
The UK Treasury limited " foreign exchange " to £25 , and later £50 each per annum, with any foreign currency returned to ones Bank. Return fares out and back, could be bought in the U.K. in Sterling.
The cost of hire for an Auster at Croydon or Southend etc. was then £3 per hour. This may give some scale to money and values at that time !
I went for a week long gliding course at Troyes to obtain my A, B, and C certificates. There were few thermals in October, and the Instructor and I communicated in Franglais.
Later I went for a further course near Toulouse, a Ridge site where there was ridge soaring, for endurance. Sometimes this would be with a short winch launch off the side of the hill followed by a turn to land up the slope with what was now a tail wind, or alternatively landing with quite a strong ( for a glider) strong wind, remembering to lower the "into wind wing" before stopping.
LT